Mount View Lunatic Asylum

The Mount View Lunatic Asylum (alternates: Mt. View Lunatic Asylum, Mount View Asylum) was a psychiatric hospital located on 113 acres (46 ha) near the Basin Reserve in Wellington, New Zealand. Government House is now located on what were the asylum grounds.[1] Work began in 1872, and the hospital opened in May 1873.[2] It replaced Karori Lunatic Asylum, the first asylum in the country.[3] Mount View was planned to accommodate 28 male and 28 female patients, but as 70 patients were transferred from Karori, overcrowding was a problem from the beginning.[4] An expansion was required soon after the asylum opened to accommodate more patients, so in 1879 the two-storey wooden structure was enlarged with a block for 50 male patients, and another wing was built during 1880.[5][6] Around 1885 two additional wards were constructed.[7] By 1905 there were 250 patients but within the next five years, they were transferred to Porirua Lunatic Asylum and other asylums, before Mount View's closure in 1910.[8][4]

Mount View Lunatic Asylum
Mount View Asylum, c. 1906
Geography
LocationWellington, New Zealand
Coordinates41.306114°S 174.7810835°E / -41.306114; 174.7810835 (current Government House)
Organisation
TypeSpecialist
Services
Beds200
SpecialityPsychiatric hospital
History
Former name(s)Mt. View Lunatic Asylum, Mount View Asylum
Opened1873
Closed1910
Links
ListsHospitals in New Zealand

References
  1. Toth, Gabor; Kim Clayton. "Heritage > Newtown & Berhampore". wcl.govt.nz. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  2. "The new lunatic asylum". Evening Post. 30 January 1873. Retrieved 28 January 2022 – via Paperspast.
  3. Dekker, Diana (30 July 2011). "Conquering Karori It's sprawling, popular, and has a past. A new history of Karori recalls how only three lifetimes ago the place was forest". The Dominion Post. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  4. Crosby, Arthur (5 May 1910). "Wellington Mental Hospital". Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives. 1910 Session 1, H-07: 18–19 – via Paperspast.
  5. "Report by the Inspector of Lunatic Asylums". Evening Post. 30 September 1879. Retrieved 31 January 2022 – via Paperspast.
  6. "[untitled]". Evening Post. 11 January 1881. Retrieved 31 January 2022 – via Paperspast.
  7. "Charitable Institutions". The Cyclopedia of New Zealand: Wellington Provincial District. Wellington, New Zealand: The Cyclopedia Company Ltd. 1897 – via New Zealand Electronic Text Centre.
  8. Brunton, Warwick (6 April 2011). "Mount View Asylum, 1872". Mental health services. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 7 September 2011.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.